Kolkata Police lodges ‘fake post’ FIR against Babul Supriyo

KOLKATA: City police on Sunday lodged an FIR against Union minister Babul Supriyo following a complaint by Kartik Banerjee who alleged that Babul had shared a fake photograph from his Twitter handle depicting him with chief secretary Rajiva Sinha. The FIR was registered under IPC sections 153A and 505 and other sections of the Information Technology Act. “A case has been started,” said DCP (South) Meeraj Khalid.
The BJP minister on Friday shared the photo depicting several people, with a caption, “It’s Honble WBCM Mamata Banerjee’s brother Kartik Banerjee with the Current Chief Seccretary (sic) of Bengal Rajivs (sic) Sinha! The Drinks r fine but this viral photo does raise many questions given who they are!! This sure is not a normal pix !!" Supriyo also tagged BJP president J P Nadda in the post.
In a detailed social media post, Kartik wrote: “The union minister and BJP MP had shared a picture claiming someone in that picture is Didi’s brother Kartik Banerjee but I am not even present there. This is a blatant lie. And I strongly oppose it. Such irresponsible and unjustifiable social media post by an union minister only proves he is unwise and unsuccessful. At a time when we are trying our best to reach out to people with necessities your party is indulging in dirty politics and spreading lies. I believe this is a social crime. So, I have decided to take legal action.”
The South division of Kolkata Police also took to microblogging platform Twitter to announce on its official handle that the photo shared is fake and that action was being taken. “This post circulating on social media is #Fake. The information shared in the message is false. A case has been started over this and legal action being taken,” it stated.
Supriyo chided the Kolkata Police for this. He alleged, “Fine, I will surely ask a question that is being asked by millions. I didn’t release the photo. It was already viral. Everyone knows that West Bengal police is an extension of the Trinamool Congress.”
Supriyo also alleged that the FIR has been drawn up on the orders of Kartik Banerjee. He maintained that he merely shared a picture which had gone viral – suggesting these were shared by some people, including some journalists.